Online information source for semiconductor professionals

Taking a gold leaf from First Solar’s crown, MiaSole's copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic module start-up is to employ Intel’s Technical Manufacturing Services practice to ramp its capacity from 50MW to 150MW by year-end. Bruce Sohn, a former 300mm fab manager at Intel had been accredited by First Solar in recruiting a number of key Intel personnel as the company became the largest solar module manufacturer in the world. Read more >>

Intel Corporation has revealed winners of its two key supplier awards systems, incorporating its Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award and its Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award. Only eight companies were honoured in the SCQI category, while sixteen companies were showcased in the PQS awards. The SCQI awards are regarded as more prestigious by Intel. This year as with previous years the list is dominated by Japan-based suppliers, however this year all suppliers honoured were from Japan. Read more >>

On the back of announcing first-quarter revenue reached an all-time record for Intel of US$12.9 billion, the semiconductor market leader has raised capital spending plans by over US$1 billion to US$10.2 billion, plus or minus US$400 million. Read more >>

Final market share rankings from IHS iSuppli for 2010, highlights that Intel’s semiconductor leadership is finally under threat from Samsung. According to the market research firm, second ranked IC manufacturer, Samsung held 9.2% share of global IC revenue, while Intel, long ranked market share leader had exited 2010 with 13.3% global share, only 4.1 percentage points ahead of Samsung. In 2001 Intel’s market share was 14.9%, while Samsung’s sat at 3.9%. Read more >>

According to the SEMI Opto/LED Fab Forecast, capital investments in LED fabs reached US$1.78 billion in 2010, up from US$606 million in 2009. SEMI expects that LED equipment growth will continue this year to reach about US$2.5 billion, a 40% increase year-over-year. Read more >>

Brendan Mc Kearney, previously Executive Vice President, has assumed the role of President, Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe. Joji Murakami, who previously held the position, has moved to the new position of Chairman, Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe, and remains a board member of FSEU. Read more >>

Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached US$25.2 billion for the month of February 2011, a decline of 1.1% from the prior month. Sales are still higher than in February 2010 when sales increased by 13.6% from US$22.2 billion. Read more >>

Consolidation in the analog space just heated up with the announcement from Texas Instruments that it would acquire National Semiconductor for approximately US$6.5 billion in an all-cash transaction based on the offer of US$25 per share. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction. TI said that Nationals fabs would continue to be operated. Read more >>

According to new research from IHS iSuppli, the 298 semiconductor suppliers tracked within its Competitive Landscaping Tool (CLT) experienced their first revenue decline in the fourth quarter of 2010, since the beginning of 2009. Revenue contract 3.7% to US$77.2 billion in 4Q10, compared to US$80.1 billion in the previous quarter. Read more >>

A flurry of new members has taken the total company membership of the The Fab Owners Association (FOA) to 74, a 14% increase since the beginning of 2011. The new members are device-makers GLOBALFOUNDRIES and LFoundry GMBH.  New associate members include Macquarie Electronics USA, M&W U.S., Inc, RED Equipment Pte Ltd., SigmaTech, Inc., Mattson Technology, Inc., ePAK, Rite Track and ASML.  Read more >>